Home owner losses from flooded dwellings can be hundreds to thousands of dollars. Many homes are protected by two sump pumps, supplied by different companies, in an attempt to maintain sump pump operation during a power outage.
Typically, a sump pump powered from the grid is backed up by a battery or a water powered sump pump. The battery backup pump will run during a power outage until the batteries are exhausted (several days or more). A water powered pump will operate indefinitely as long as a source of pressurized water is available, such as city water. As city water is a reliable source of pressurized water, water powered sump pumps are becoming very popular as a reliable backup sump pump to an electrically powered sump pump.
The water powered sump pump (venturi pump) has no moving parts and can run for years without maintenance. By using a venturi pump as the primary sump pump, but powered by electricity, the same venturi pump can switch to a source of pressurized water to continue operation when power fails, and then, switch back to electricity when power is restored.
Operating such a sump pump continuously on city water would be expensive and wasteful. By producing a local source of pressurized water with an electrically powered pump, the venturi sump pump can continuously operate through power outages. Further, this sump pump will have no moving wearing parts in the sump making maintenance easier. All the equipment is wall mounted above the sump, safe and dry. A dual power sump pump that is more reliable and easier to maintain is desirable.